Zip drive connected to second connector on hard drive

  • Thread starter Thread starter Butch
  • Start date Start date
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Butch

I bought a second hard drive just to use as a data storage device,
When I opened the dell case I noticed that the second connector or the
middle connector
is being used by the Zip drive. the first is the hard drive Itself.
I called dell and ask them what should I do to install the second hard
drive...They told me to use
the extra connector from my C/D DVD drive to plug into zip drive,Then
install the newer smaller data
storage hard drive ....What I'm asking is, Will i have to delete the zip
drive in device manager before
installing the second hard drive...Or will X-P home see it and reconize it
as being a hard drive and not
my zip drive?........How does that work?.......I bought the extra hard drive
from dell But it came with
nothing...No instructions...No C/D.....Just the hard drive.........I hope
you can make sense of my ramblin!
.........Thanks for reading this post...................................Butch
Windows X-P home Service pack 2
Dell dimension 8200
A- Floopy C- Master drive D- Zip drive E-Dvd/Cdrw G- Removable
disk-Printer
 
With the drive list you supplied, you have at least two options to
install the new hard drive in addition to the devices already installed
if the following two things are true: 1. You have an empty drive bay to
hold the drive. It can be a 3.5" or a 5.25" bay. If the second, you
will need an adapter to attach to the HD so it can use the bay. 2. You
have a power connector to put on the HD to power it. If you don't have
one free, you can get a "splitter" that will attach to the one now
attached to either the HD or CD device and give two in its place.

It appears that Dell suggested adding the new HD on the primary channel
as slave. The CD DVD drive will be master with the Zip as slave on the
second channel. Make sure the jumpers are correctly placed on each drive
for that configuration. The present HD would normally be placed on the
end connector and the new HD in the middle on the first channel. On the
second, the CD DVD will be on the end connector with the Zip in the
middle.

Double check the jumper positions and all cables before powering on.

Now to actually answer your question (at long last!).

All PCs of reasonably recent times will auto-detect devices attached to
the IDE controller and automatically configure appropriately. With some
slightly older boxes, you have to enter the BIOS at system startup and
click on a setting to tell the BIOS to redetect the drives. Do check the
motherboard manual or other user manual for the computer that Dell
provided. If no paper copy, check their web site for an on-line version.
I'm fairly sure it will auto-detect. Windows will automatically
reconfigure for the new setup. You might have to restart windows after
it reconfigures. If so, you will see a prompt on-screen.

Good luck. Do let us know.


Tom
MSMVP
Windows Shell/User


: I bought a second hard drive just to use as a data storage device,
: When I opened the dell case I noticed that the second connector or the
: middle connector
: is being used by the Zip drive. the first is the hard drive Itself.
: I called dell and ask them what should I do to install the second hard
: drive...They told me to use
: the extra connector from my C/D DVD drive to plug into zip drive,Then
: install the newer smaller data
: storage hard drive ....What I'm asking is, Will i have to delete the
zip
: drive in device manager before
: installing the second hard drive...Or will X-P home see it and
reconize it
: as being a hard drive and not
: my zip drive?........How does that work?.......I bought the extra hard
drive
: from dell But it came with
: nothing...No instructions...No C/D.....Just the hard drive.........I
hope
: you can make sense of my ramblin!
: ........Thanks for reading this
post...................................Butch
: Windows X-P home Service pack 2
: Dell dimension 8200
: A- Floopy C- Master drive D- Zip drive E-Dvd/Cdrw G- Removable
: disk-Printer
:
:
 
The drive letters of the Zip and CD DVD will change when you add the new
drive.
If you don't care what the drive letters are, then do nothing.
If you want some control over the drive letters, go to the properties of the
Zip and CD DVD in Device Manager and change the drive letters to a higher
letter.
Some people use Z for the Zip.
 
Butch said:
I bought a second hard drive just to use as a data storage device,
When I opened the dell case I noticed that the second connector or the
middle connector
is being used by the Zip drive. the first is the hard drive Itself.
I called dell and ask them what should I do to install the second hard
drive...They told me to use
the extra connector from my C/D DVD drive to plug into zip drive,Then
install the newer smaller data
storage hard drive ....What I'm asking is, Will i have to delete the zip
drive in device manager before
installing the second hard drive...Or will X-P home see it and reconize it
as being a hard drive and not
my zip drive?.....

XP will find the rearrangement for itself. Make sure that the jumper on
the new drive is set as Slave (usually means no jumper in). Then after
booting go to Control Panel - Admin Tools - Computer Management, select
Disk Management and look lower right for the graphic of the drive.
R-click in the Unallocated space, and take Create Partition and go on to
format (or more than one partition - to taste)
 
Thanks Alex, Ron, and Thomas.
I don't think I could've done it without your help....Just one more
Question,
The original IDE ribbon cable that connected the CD DVD drive and the ZIP
drive was
too short to use so I ordered another one ...This one was 40 socket, 3
connect..I Installed it
on the CD DVD and ZIP drive..Nothing....Wasn't even detected in the
bio's....I noticed that
the ribbon cable that was in there Had alot more conductors...The one that
I bought is

http://accessories.gateway.com/Acce...4/IDE_F1_ATA+Cables_316459/1815756_ProdDetail

Is this the right one?....I put the old one back in and connected it the CD
DVD drive and lost my ZIP drive
But I had to have the CD drive..Well, It works now...I"m just wondering if
it was the wrong one.
Thanks again for putting up with my
ramblin.........................................................Butch
 
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